A new Energy Department report shows that when it comes to coal and CO2 emissions, Americans are piling it on. But there are also signs of changes on the horizon. (DOE/David Parsons - NREL Staff Photographer)

Whether at Christmas time or in the heat of summer, nobody likes a lump of coal. Unfortunately, that’s what the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is delivering in its latest report.

But emissions are expected to go down during an economic downturn, so what’s the big deal? Well, maybe it wasn’t a “big” deal, but it was a deal — small but tantalizing. The emissions declines were not all due to the recession. In fact, according to the EIA analysis, only about a third was attributable to the fall in gross domestic product. The other two-thirds were tied to a more structural shift in the way the nation generates and uses energy: specifically, a decrease in energy intensity (indicating greater efficiencies in energy generation and use) and a decrease in carbon intensity (due to fuel switching from coal to natural gas and to a lesser extent renewables).

These data raised a hopeful question: Could this be the first sign of a national trend?

A New Trend Toward Greater Efficiency and Cleaner Fuels?

Alas, the answer appears to be no.

Earlier this year, EIA projected that U.S. CO2 emissions in 2010 had increased by about 3 percent. The final tally now pegs the increase at 3.9 percent — the “largest absolute and percentage increase (213 million metric tons or 3.9 percent),” according to EIA, “in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the United States … since 1988 when they grew by 218 (4.6 percent).”

OK, an increase was expected; after all, the economy was rebounding in 2010. But GDP in 2010 only increased by 3 percent and emissions are up by 3.9 percent. So, just as 2009’s decrease could be traced to more than just the economy, last year’s increase was due to more than the economic recovery. Those other factors? Most can be chalked up to losses on the efficiency front (with energy intensity up by about 0.7 percent). There was also an uptick in carbon intensity by about 0.1 percent. (Another factor was a 0.9 percent increase in population.) In short, the economy has retreated from its greater efficiency/cleaner fuels gains of 2009.

What happened? Simple. The economic uptick centered around energy-intensive industries that primarily rely on coal; the fact that 2010 was one hot summer didn’t help either.

But Hold On …

If you dig down deep into that end-of-summer stocking from the EIA, you’ll find a little bit of sweet to go with that lump of coal. It’s found in their data under the heading “Electric generating capacity additions in the first half of 2011.” In eight of the top 10 states with new capacity, the majority of the new capacity came in the form of natural gas or renewable energy. The exceptions: Kentucky and Wisconsin. Even in Texas, new capacity from natural gas edged out coal by a margin of about 1,100 megawatts to 800 megawatts. And in Colorado and California, most of the new capacity came in the form of wind energy. (See chart below.)

And so, a hopeful question surfaces once again: Could these be signs of a national trend toward greater efficiency and lower-carbon, cleaner fuels? Stranger things have happened.

Comments

US emission up in 2010 is misleading because it is a lagging indicator. Looking at a leading indicator shows that we are committed to sacrifice and are willing to move forward:

We are most certainly well on our way to meet our CO2 reduction goal if we only let the economic recession continue and let it decent into a depression. To make certain that this will happen I have no other choice than to re-elect president Obama. He is our savor from the scorched earth the AGW-religion is predicting. I surely don’t want to burn alive in a coal fired hell on earth.

So what’s wrong with shutting down all coal fired plants right now? Obama’s electric “green” cars, after all, should be sold with solar panels or windmills instead of charging systems that connect to an electric grid fed by coal fired plants. I for one have no problem driving only during the night hours or after a hefty storm. Now we are talking about an efective CO2 reduction and the heaven on earth Mr. President Obama has promised.

Eros9

August 24, 2011, 11:22 am

Rather a strange caption for the graph, sort of saying “ignoring 2 states where almost all of the new capacity was coal, most new capacity was gas or renewables”.

What the graph shows is that the top 10 states for new capacity added about 5050 MW gas, 2100 MW coal, and 1200 MW wind. What is misleading is that 1200 MW wind means only about 250-400 MW average output and only about 80-150 MW of actual capacity value.

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